//------------------------------// // The Wrath of Rarity // Story: From Savage to Civil // by Discorded SheepcityUSA //------------------------------// Rarity was very aware that she probably didn’t look her best right now. As a matter of fact she was so angry and seething that she probably didn’t look too different from the manticore in that sense. Under normal circumstances, Rarity wouldn’t be caught dead behaving in such an unladylike manner. These were not normal circumstances. That horrible monster had hurt her Timber. A pony that she had started to become very attached to, almost like a mother to her foal. Anything or anypony that would get in her way of making sure that he was treated like a normal pony would truly face her wrath. And at the moment, this manticore was directly in her line of fire. The manticore, while injured and clearly in pain, wasn’t going to back down from this new challenger. He took his attention off of the injured colt and directed it instead towards Rarity, who was preparing to blast him again, appearing to be mad as fire. “Alright you awful, bad-mannered, brute of a cat. Attacking me, I can live with. Ripping my saddlebags; not a problem…but you have officially crossed the line now. For hurting my innocent and sweet little colt…” Rarity’s horn started to grow much brighter with each passing second that she became so much angrier “-I’LL RIP OFF YOUR HIDE FOR THAT!” Rarity yelled at the top of her lungs as she opened fire with her magic on the manticore. The manticore was lucky enough to have dodged Rarity’s barrage and landed behind her, prepared to swipe at her with its claws… Before it got the chance though, Rarity turned around and blasted the monster in the face with her magic, burning it and making it roar in pain. “RAAAARGH!” The manticore recoiled in pain and it held onto its burned face for a moment and backing away from Rarity. After a moment of overcoming the pain residing in his nose, the manticore returned to fighting position, still hellbent on ripping Rarity apart; even more now than before that she was really starting to irritate him with her magic. The manticore charged at her again, fully prepared to attack. Rarity however, managed to use her magic to teleport out of the raging manticore’s path, causing the feline to slam face-first into a nearby tree, slightly dazing him. Once Rarity re-appeared behind him, she used her magic again to blast him right in the behind, inducing another pained roar from the manticore. The manticore looked back at Rarity, still with an angry scowl on his face, but appeared to be less willing to fight. Clearly whatever witchcraft this white creature possessed was going to best him at every chance he attempted to attack. It’d be pointless to continue this struggle. So with a bitter snarl, the manticore started to limp away from the field of battle, completely defeated. Rarity’s breathing was starting to return to normal as she began to calm herself when the manticore retreated, all the while trying to contemplate what just happened. The same manticore that she feared for her life facing down the previous day she had just severely injured to the point of giving up. She didn’t quite understand what happened. She just saw him hurt Timber and…she just completely lost her head. Rarity shook her head of those thoughts and pushed her elegant mane out of her face. “Hmph. The uncivil fleabag had it coming.” She said to herself. She looked behind her to see Fluttershy, Professor Critter, and the herd of Spider-Monkeys all staring wide-eyed at her with their mouths hanging open. “…Uhhh…” Fluttershy mumbled. “…Fluttershy, remind me to never piss her off...” Critter said, also in shock at what just happened. Rarity didn’t pay their comments any mind, because at the moment, there was something much more serious that needed attention. Timber was leaning against a tree now, slightly cringing in pain from his broken wing. “Oh my goodness, Timber!” Rarity yelled, galloping to his side and inspecting him. His body was quite littered with cuts and bruises from battling with the manticore for so long, and appeared to be very, very tired. Rarity looked at his wing and gasped. It looked like it had been severely broken when it impacted the tree, and was bending at angle that really shouldn’t have been possible. Rarity almost felt like bursting into tears on the spot, but knew she simply didn’t have the time. Not now. “Everypony, we need to get Timber back to camp and get him patched up. He’s very, very hurt, and I’m worried.” Rarity said to Fluttershy and Critter as she levitated Timber onto her back. “How bad is it?” Critter asked. Rarity craned her neck to look at the injured colt on her back, who was still slightly cringing in pain. “His wing is broken, and he has quite a few minor injuries on him.” Rarity said worryingly. Timber appeared to shuffle and grunt a little though as Rarity started to trot toward camp, almost hesitant to leave. “Timber? What is it?” Fluttershy asked softly. Timber obviously didn’t answer, but he pointed with his good wing at the injured Spider-Monkey in the middle of the herd that had the manticore’s claw marks on its abdomen, several other members of the herd surrounding it with concerned looks on all of their eight-eyed faces. Timber then painfully groaned something in Timberwolf, resulting in a puzzled look from Rarity. “Fluttershy? Do you know what he’s saying?” she asked. Fluttershy looked at Rarity, starting to look very uncomfortable. “He’s saying…he’s saying that he wants us to help that Spider-Monkey.” Rarity looked at Timber for a moment, then back to the injured Spider-Monkey and his herd. Obviously, she herself couldn’t stick around because Timber needed to go back to camp to rest, but she also wanted to respect Timber’s wishes. From the looks of it, Timber valued the safety of the animals in the jungle more than his own, and wanted to make sure they were cared for. “…Umm..I’ll stay behind and work on mending the Spider-Monkey’s wounds. You and the Professor go back to camp. I’ll catch up.” Fluttershy said before Rarity even had a second to speak. “Ms. Fluttershy, I don’t think I feel comfortable leaving you in the middle of an uncharted forest by yourself. That just really doesn’t sit well with me.” Critter said. Fluttershy apparently seemed to take some level of disagreement with that statement, because she put on a hard stare that made Critter shudder a little, looking directly at him with widened and resolved eyes. He never would’ve guessed that mares could be this scary. “Professor, I think it’s nice that you’re concerned about my safety, but Rarity needs all the help she can get right now. Timber is very hurt, and Rarity needs you right now more than I do. I’ll be fine.” Fluttershy insisted, still staring Critter down. Critter tried to get over the initial shock of Fluttershy giving him that very unnerving stare and took in her words. “…Alright. If you’re so sure. I’ll go back with Rarity while you patch things up here…Rarity, we should probably go.” Critter sighed. He trotted to Rarity’s side, who still had a very fatigued and injured Timber on her back, and trotted out of the clearing with her back to their campsite. With the clearing now only occupied by Fluttershy and the Spider-Monkeys, she wasted no time in approaching the herd, specifically the one with the scratches on its chest. They all flinched slightly at the unfamiliar presence of a pony that wasn’t Timber, but seemed to relax a little when they saw the kind smile on her face. She looked at the injured Spider-Monkey on the ground, giving off the same smile and spoke softy. “Now, let’s see what we can do about those scratches.” She said. For the longest time, nothing but the sound of crunching leaves and the shallow and tired breaths that Timber let out was all that could be heard as Critter and Rarity trekked their way back to camp through the dense jungle. Occasionally, Rarity would turn her head to the foal on her back and looking at him with concerned and saddened eyes. Seeing him in this state hurt Rarity on an unreal level. Everytime she looked at his broken wing, she cringed. Not so much from how bad the injury looked, but from a sense of shame over the whole ordeal. In a way, she felt like she had failed to protect Timber. Timber looked up immensely to Rarity, and she felt that she had let him down by letting him get hurt like this. She was starting to tear up again at the thought of what would’ve happened to him if she hadn’t faced the manticore when she did. It would’ve most definitely been worse than an injured wing and… It was almost too much to imagine what could’ve happened. Critter looked worriedly at the mare trotting beside him. She hadn’t said a word since they had departed back to camp, and from looking at Timber’s current state, he could factor a guess as to why. While Critter himself was not the best at giving advice, he did consider himself good at lightening the tense mood of situations such as this. “…Rarity, why didn’t you tell me Fluttershy could be so terrifying?” he asked. Rarity turned her head away from Timber for a moment to listen to Professor Critter. “What? You’ve never seen her use “The Stare” before?” Rarity asked. “There’s a name for it?...please tell me “The Stare” isn’t a thing that happens often.” Critter said, with what Rarity could swear was the slightest hint of a whimper in his voice. “No no. She can’t really seem to control when it happens, but from what I’ve seen, it only happens when she needs to be firm…why? Did she scare you that badly?~” Rarity asked with a slight smirk. Critter blushed in embarrassment and took his eyes off of Rarity, grumbling slightly. “…I wasn’t scared THAT much…” “Oh really now? Because you DID just say she was terrif-“ “OH HEY LOOK! WE’RE COMING BACK UP TO CAMP!” Critter interrupted loudly, hoping to take the subject off himself. He hurriedly ran ahead of Rarity, obviously very quick to get back to camp… But he froze completely at the entrance, his face appearing to be looking very, very scared. “Professor? Professor, what’s the matte-“ Rarity didn’t try to finish her sentence when she trotted next to him and reached the entrance of their camp. She already knew what was wrong when she set eyes on it. Their campsite had been raided while they were gone, for now, currently tearing their camp apart, was a pack of large, vicious creatures. Their bright, green eyes glowed in rage as they clawed through their tents and sleeping bags, their bodies were composed of thick logs of wood and bark, and the foul odor they gave off was nearly enough to make both ponies wretch. Timberwolves. The most feared creatures of the jungle. Rarity was of course terrified beyond comprehension, but for a brief moment, that feeling faded. That was when she saw one of them, the biggest one of the pack, ripping and tearing apart her elegant and large tent. Her fear had been replaced by nothing less than pure, unfiltered anger when she witnessed this. “Ms. Rarity, you’re seeing this too, aren’t you? They seem to be looking for somet- “WHY IS EVERYTHING IN THIS JUNGLE BENT ON DESTROYING EVERYTHING I OWN?!?!?” Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs. When the surprised gazes of the Timberwolves met hers however, she immediately covered her mouth. “…Oh dear.” She mumbled. The Timberwolves gathered closer together, the largest one that was tearing apart Rarity’s tent being in the front. They all glared angrily and snarled at the ponies before them, daring them to try and put up a fight. “Nice going Rarity.” Critter growled through his teeth. “Well I’m sorry, but I get rather irritable when my property is being vandalized.” Rarity shot back. “I hope it was worth the screaming then, because we’re facing down a pack of Timberwolves right now.” “…Right…let’s see, we’re outnumbered, Timber is in no condition to fight, and these Timberwolves are obviously very angry…what would your observation of this situation be right now?” Rarity asked. “Hey, guess what? We’re screwed. That’s my observation.” Critter said. Before either of them could fire off another remark at each other though, Timber looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of the pack of Timberwolves. He quickly slid off of Rarity’s back and started to approach the enraged pack, much to Rarity and Critter’s shock. “Timber wait! You can’t fight them like this! Please stop!” Rarity yelled after her foal. “Dangit, Timber you knucklehead! Get back over here!” Critter yelled. Timber didn’t pay their yelling any heed however, as he continued his approach toward the pack. He finally made it to the largest Timberwolf at the front, looking up at it not with angry and animalistic eyes, but with a sort of look that had an innocent property to it. The kind that any foal would possess. The Timberwolf looked down at the foal, and its wrathful expression softened once she laid eyes upon him. It knelt down to eyelevel with the foal and appeared to mumble a little in its native language. Timber responded to its speaking with a few mumbles and growls of his own in the same tongue. Rarity and Timber were quite shocked this. Timber seemed to be just talking to it, and not jumping to fight like everything else he considered dangerous in this jungle. The manticore, Fluttershy and Critter when they first met; this was the first time they had seen him act non-hostile toward a beast such as this. They were even more shocked when Timber smiled a wide smile, grabbed onto the Timberwolf’s nose, and nuzzled his face on it, appearing to laugh a little. The Timberwolf also pulled off a slight smile and hummed at the affection. “…I-Is that…?” Rarity stuttered. “Rarity…I thiiiink we may be looking at Timber’s wolf-mommy right now…” Critter said, truly stunned at the sight of the little foal nuzzling the gigantic beast.